As Dan Houston advanced through the leadership ranks at Principal Financial Group, his involvement in civic and social initiatives across Greater Des Moines expanded.

And while the 64-year-old Houston has retired from corporate leadership, he continues to apply his experience and influence to community initiatives that will help shape the region’s future.

Remaining engaged in community projects is essential to helping make Greater Des Moines a better place to live, work and play, said Houston, who retired in 2025 from Principal after a 41-year-career at the company including 10 years as president, CEO and board chair.

“I think the only way you are able to recruit and retain the talent of a successful organization is to have a vibrant community,” he said. “People want to live in communities that are thriving. … Part of my role as a leader is to walk [others] through what the challenges are and to get support for addressing those challenges. It’s easier to get people behind big building-type projects. It’s not as easy for things like affordable housing and providing great educational opportunities.”

Houston, who grew up in Texas and graduated from Iowa State University, was first introduced to community philanthropy by Richard Prey, a Principal executive. Houston had been with the company about eight years when Prey invited him to an event at a women’s shelter hosted by United Way of Central Iowa.

“It was my first time ever to really up-close see women who had become homeless because of an abusive relationship,” Houston said. “It was a wake-up call.”

The experience prompted Houston and wife, Joanie, to become involved in health and human service-related groups, projects and activities, something both continue to be active in today.  

Houston has also been heavily involved in community infrastructure needs, an interest he said was instilled by former Principal CEO David Hurd.

“Dave shared a paper with me that he had written in the 1990s about decaying cities and the need to have infrastructure constantly improved – highways, sewer and water systems, power structures,” Houston said.

Twenty years ago, Des Moines area issues centered around infrastructure such as finding a new home for the Science Center of Iowa and locating a hotel near the Iowa Events Center, he said. Today’s issues revolve around food insecurity, providing mass transit for those who can’t afford it, building affordably priced homes, and improving educational systems.

“All of these things have to do with our ability to thrive as a community,” Houston said.

Today, Houston fills his calendar with meetings and events that promote improving the Greater Des Moines area. He is co-chair of the board of the ICON Water Trails, an initiative to improve water quality and boost economic development and recreational activities along 150 miles of waterways in Central Iowa. He also is a member of the oversight committee for the Des Moines school district’s Reimagining Education initiative.  

The Business Record recently caught up with Houston. This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Talk about why you’re so bullish on Des Moines and Iowa.

Des Moines is big enough to really make a difference, but it’s small enough to get your arms around. That’s the beauty of Des Moines: Solving for the Des Moines schools; solving for transportation; solving for food; solving for housing. It’s well within our reach, our grasp and our capabilities to be able to do that. That’s why I’m bullish. … I have a soft place in my heart for rural Iowa. This is the food basket of the world right here and Des Moines doesn’t do well unless the rural parts of Iowa do well. You can’t forget them. Having said that, we know that sometimes really small communities aren’t able to fully support a lot of retail establishments. We need to look at how we supply some things on a regional basis. How do we ensure that the co-ops remain viable? How do we make sure that there’s hospitals and pharmacies and doctors and housing and community banks? How we solve those things will be different in rural Iowa than what we do in the urban areas.

What goes into your decision-making when you are looking at how and where to invest your time and energy?

I’ll share a story that my grandfather told me. Everyone says they’re so busy, yet if I told you right outside this building was a tree and it grew $100 bills – and I know you’re busy; I know you need to sleep and eat and that you’ve got a lot of things to do – but if I told you that you could go out there and pick $100 bills, do you think you could find the time to do it? Absolutely. So, you work on those things that are most important, and you do have to prioritize. Also, you cannot commit to doing things if you don’t have the time. That means sometimes you have to say no to certain things at certain times. For me, it’s tough. You want to do as much as you possibly can. I really do try to look at what impact can I have? How important is the issue, and what is it that I have in terms of capabilities and resources that might be constructive or helpful in that endeavor? That’s the prioritization.

Some leaders may think they need to say yes to everything. What are effective ways to say no that preserve relationships and avoid coming across as abrupt?

My guess is you can’t pick up a CEO book that didn’t say somewhere in the first chapter, “Newly minted CEOs must find ways to say no.” It’s hard because you want to please. Saying yes or no to a request has everything to do with prioritization. And here’s the other thing, oftentimes, when you’re asked to do something, the person asking may very well think that you’re going to say no, so it’s not as if they think they’re going to get a yes to the request. I think it’s more helpful to say this: “Hey, I don’t think I’m the right guy for this, but let me tell you who I think is.” And then work with them to recruit that individual.  

What do people whom you are mentoring want to know?

I think what they want to know and what you want to share are two different things. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. I think my job is to better understand what their motivations are: How do they define success? How are they currently operating and what’s their business model? Try not to get them to do the things that worked for me but help them shape their own path. Listen to what they feel like they are not capable or confident about and help them sort through that and provide some insights and perspectives. One thing I do share is that you’ve got to put the hours in; you’ve got to do the work.

What advice do you find yourself giving young and upcoming leaders over and over again?                    

Be a servant leader. My job isn’t to make [an employee] adjust to me. My job is to adjust to [the employee]. How can I work [with the employee] in a way that they are able to do their best work? A lot of people talk about that but I think it’s really tough to do. I’ve always said in my leadership, I discriminate every day on how I treat individuals but I treat everyone equally because it’s my job to try to orient my style that best allows them to do their best work. I want people coming to work enthusiastic and excited about making a difference for our customers. 

What’s one piece of advice that you got early in your leadership role that you’ve held onto?

On the day I was appointed chief executive officer, I was asked, in the board room, “What are your current thoughts on succession?” And I said, “I just got the job.” And I was told, “Dan, it’s never too early to think about succession.” You can’t wait … because you always want to make sure that you’ve got a huge, rich pool of individuals in leadership roles. I’ve gone one step further. We have to make sure what I call the position players, the individual contributors, who may not be leading in a traditional way but they are mentoring on how to conduct themselves, how to operate in a collaborative way. Individual contributors are just as important around here as a person who is in a leadership role.

When you look back on your years as a leader at Principal Financial Group and in the community, how will you define success?

I’ve got a good friend who once said, “Dan, there’s a point in your career where you stop polishing the resume and you start polishing the headstone, including the back of it because you want to be known for something.” For me, it’s “He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather.”

At a glance

Age: 64

Family: Wife, Joanie, three adult children and three grandchildren

Education: Bachelor of Arts degree, Iowa State University (1984) and honorary doctorate, ISU’s Ivy College of Business (2022)

Work background: Principal Financial Group, 1984 to 2025. Roles included chairman of the board (2024-25); chairman, president and CEO (2015-2024); president of retirement, insurance and financial services (2010-2014); president of retirement and investor services (2008-2010).

Current board participation, corporate governance: ADT Inc. (2024 to present); Arch Capital Group Ltd., (2024 to present); Partnership for a Healthier America, board member (2015 to present).

Other affiliations: West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce Foundation, advisory committee member (2023 to present); Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, board member (2017 to present); Business Roundtable (2017 to present); Greater Des Moines Partnership executive committee and board (2015-2026); current chair of Iowa State University Business School Dean’s Advisory Council (2004 to present); co-chair, ICON Water Trail board; board member of Partnership for a Healthier America, (2015 to present).

Awards: Business Record’s Most Influential Business Leader of the Year (2026); West Des Moines Citizen of the Year (2026); Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Lillywhite Award (2022); John Winthrop Wright Ethics in Action Award (2022); Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame (2022); Gartner CEO Talent Champion (2022); Iowa Business Hall of Fame (2019); and United Way of Central Iowa Tocqueville Society Award (2014).

Did you know?

The Business Record’s January interview with Dan Houston revealed some lesser-known details about the former Principal Financial Group leader, including:

1. As a child and teen, Houston spent his summers at his grandparents’ farm near Dow City in west central Iowa. In 1976, when Houston was 15, his grandfather Joe Smith told his grandson that he would be responsible for readying 16 sows’ litters for market. Houston wouldn’t be paid a traditional wage that summer, Smith told him. Instead, Houston could keep the proceeds from the sale of the pigs, minus the expense of caring for them. Houston spent the summer helping Smith with chores on the farm while he “grew” the tiny pigs from 2 pounds to 40 pounds. On the way to the auction at summer’s end, Smith shared some words of wisdom with his teenage grandson: Something always needs to be making money for you, even when you’re sleeping. As the pigs grew, Smith said, the more valuable they became. Even as Houston relaxed after a hard day of chores on the farm, his investment of time and energy in the pigs was growing, Smith said. That summer, Houston made $5,000, more than double what he usually earned during the summer. “That lesson – and others – have stuck with me,” Houston said. “It taught me to be a good saver. It taught me to be an entrepreneur. It taught me the importance of going to college.”

2. Houston often spends Sunday afternoons working on a Lego project with his 12-year-old grandson. The two spend two or so hours working on one of Lego’s vintage classic car sets. The two put together a McLaren for the boy’s father and a Mustang Shelby Cobra for his uncle. They are currently working on another car project for the boy’s aunt. “That’s time for just the two of us to connect,” Houston said. “Sometimes it can be hard to connect with a 12-year-old but you have to look for ways to connect. It’s no different than in business, if you think about it. How do you connect with people?”

3. Family meals are important to Houston. When Dan and Joanie Houston’s children were young, Houston made a point of being home from work in time for dinner. “That’s one of the reasons I always got to the office so early in the morning,” he said. “Unless I was traveling, I was home at night for dinner. I may not have had breakfast or lunch with Joanie and the kids but I had dinner with them. And we prioritized the weekends so we could all be together. It’s one of the reasons why I never golfed and never went to ballgames on the weekends.”

4. Houston bought his first brand new vehicle – a Range Rover – when he was 55. “Up until that time, they were all used cars,” he said. Houston has a fondness for vintage vehicles and has owned 1961 and 1963 Corvettes and a 1970 Mustang. “My favorite car in my stable is a 1970 El Camino Super Sport. It’s such a great car.”

 – Kathy A. Bolten

About Principal Financial Group

Headquartered in Des Moines, Principal Financial Group is a global financial services company that specializes in retirement planning, asset management and insurance. The company has about 20,000 employees and serves over 70 million customers worldwide.